Prepare For The First Day Of School In These 7 Simple Steps
Making a drastic change is much more difficult than making a few smaller ones. Don’t wait with the preparation until the last day. Start early. Two weeks before the first day of school, start with smaller tasks.
The summer break is almost over. The sun is slowly but surely losing its scorching power, the days are not as long as they used to be and the children can already hear the sound of school bells ringing. It is time for the first day of school.
The beginning of a new school year can be a very exciting time for children. It is a new opportunity to do well, to hang with friends that they haven’t seen in a while and an occasion to tell everybody what they were doing during the summer.
For others, it is an unpleasant experience, full of intrusive people asking dumb questions about the past two months. “Why should you care what I have been doing for the past two months?”
If your child is among the latter, here are a few things you can try to help him or her overcome the anxiety of the new beginning.
Start Your Preparation Early
Making a drastic change is much more difficult than making a few smaller ones. Don’t wait with the preparation until the last day. Start early. Two weeks before the first day of school, start with smaller tasks. Here is a great list of documentaries you can watch with your kid.
After the film, ask him what he learned from it. Next day, give him some homework that he has to do. Give him a story to read and make sure he/she writes a summary of the story. Try getting him into the school rhythm through smaller tasks and exercises that will make the first day of the new school year seem a smaller challenge than it is.
Continue Studying Throughout The Summer
Children who struggle the most with the first days of school are the ones who neglected to study throughout the summer.
Sure, summer is the time to let loose and have fun, but you can have fun while studying as well. Surely there is something you kid likes doing that can be both fun and educational? Does your son want to play basketball? Play basketball with him.
At the same time, he can keep the score which helps with math and trains short term memory as well. Does your daughter like to play cards? There are several card games that are educational and fun at the same time.
Take History Heroes: Women, for example, the card game is a fun way to spend an evening together with the family. At the same time, it educates you and your child about 40 women who made history and why.
Neglected studying so far? All is not lost. Read the first advice again. Start now, making small adjustments, rising the effort until the first day of the new school year.
Organize A Gathering
Have fun. Contact some of the parents whose children are your kids’ classmates. Together, organize a small picnic with some fun activities. I remember my parents often helped to organize such events. It is a simple matter of collecting money from everybody, choosing a place suitable for children (preferably a large outdoor space) and buying some food and drinks.
It is a great way to prepare for the beginning of a new school year as it helps children reconnect with their classmates and gives parents the chance to talk about the one thing they have in common — the beginning of the school year.
Read With Your Child
We all know reading is important as it leads to improved learning and dealing with problems. But did you know that reading helps reduce stress and anxiety as well? In a 2009 study, researchers found that reading a book helped reduce stress by 68 percent. Music came second (61%) and taking a walk (48%) only came a distant third.
Your child hates reading or is dealing with reading-related issues, such as dyslexia? Don’t let that be an excuse. There are awesome tools out there, designed to help your kid learn to read. Take Kobi The Texthopper for example. The mobile app selectively colors the letters, motivating the child to read more. 94,82% of users claim this leads to faster, more accurate reading and helps with the understanding as well.
Buy Your Supplies
It is one of the most basic and one of the most important tasks you have to do to be prepared for your child’s first day of school. In a sea of suppliers, it is easy to forget to buy something so make sure you stay organized. Get a piece of paper and a pen and write down everything you need. At the minimum, you will need a comfortable backpack, some notebooks, and pens, while other types of materials vary from class to class.
If the list is too long, consider doing it in steps. Make sure to include your child in the buying process. Getting a say in what kind of backpack can make an important difference when the first day of school arrives.
Take Your Child To School A Day Early
It is one of the most effective and also one of the less used ways of adapting your child to the changes the first day of school brings.
Take some time off and take your child to school a day early. Make him pack his backpack and take it with you. Consider merging the experience with something positive. If you can, pick up a classmate on the way. Once you arrive at school spent some time there and then offer your kid an ice cream or something similar. This will show the child the experience isn’t so bad as he made up in his mind and should help with the anxiety.
Start Moving The Bed Time
All the regulations that take place during school time, are usually a bit loosened during the summer break. You let your child stay up later, he can have more playing time, he can do less reading.
Start to tighten the gap early. Move the bedtime from 10 pm. to 9.45pm and then to 9.30pm a few days later. Limit the playing time and slowly start introducing studying time, as described in the first paragraph. This should help the child get in school rhythm again. You can expect some protesting while doing so, but this will help come on the first day of school.
Got any other advice that worked on your kid? Write it in the comments and help others with their challenges.
Andrej Persolja is a growth-hacker and a co-founder of Hopalai, the maker of Kobi application. Kobi is a mobile app that helps children learn to read. It is carefully crafted for children with reading dissabilities, such as dyslexia.
Kobi for Android: bit.ly/kobi-play
Kobi for iOS: http://bit.ly/kobi-appstore
Contact: andrej.persolja@creativesolutions.si
